Contact lenses can be divided into two general types, hard contact lenses and soft contact lenses. Hard contact lenses are generally made of polymethylmethacrylate plastic and copolymers thereof. Soft contact lenses are made from a wide variety of plastics. The most common type of soft contact lens materials are referred to as hydrogels the most basic of which is poly(2-hydroxy)ethylmethacrylate). Numerous variations of this type of material have been developed to enhance various physical characteristics important in contact lenses such as wettability, water content, stability and physical strength. Other soft lens materials include n-vinyl lactam or vinyl pyrrolidone-based polymers and siloxane-based polymers.
Polysiloxane-based polymers possess many interesting characteristics. They are highly oxygen permeable, and they are relatively inert. However, polysiloxanes have a number of shortcomings. The lenses must be molded, they are susceptible to protein deposition, and they are not easily "wetted". Various formulations have been proposed in order to solve the various problems associated with polysiloxane where used in contact lenses.
Recently polyacetylenes have been proposed as being highly oxygen permeable. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,245 issued to Takimizawa, et al. teaches that a copolymer of EQU CH.sub.3 --C.tbd.C--Si(CH.sub.3).sub.3
and EQU CH.sub.3 --C.tbd.C--Si(CH.sub.3).sub.2 CH.sub.2 Si(CH.sub.3).sub.3
is a highly oxygen-permeable polymer particularly suited because of its high oxygen permeability to use in contact lenses. Poly((1-trimethylsilyl)-1-propyne) is also known as a highly oxygen-permeable material. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1983, 105, 7473. The present invention provides a novel class of polyacetylenes which can be tailored with respect to their surface properties and with respect to their other physical properties to provide materials useful in the construction of contact lenses.